Chris & Abbie

We're Moving....

2009-08-10T10:08:00.002+09:00

We've decided to move our blog. It's a bittersweet day for me, I've loved Blogger, but lately I've been frustrated with layouts and other random issues that make my posting a frustrating process.

So, please visit our new blog!

As a disclaimer, if I find out that the new site is not working for me, we may end up back here...we'll see how it goes.

Tokyo by Night

2009-08-09T21:41:00.005+09:00

So, as I mentioned Tokyo was filled with people and shopping. The shopping actually became quite overwhelming and Chris and I got into a big discussion about how the old Japanese culture has actually been lost and the new generations are just so consumed with their outer appearance, thus all the stores.

It is just sad to see so many people putting their efforts into defining themselves by their stuff. But people in America do that too. It is just a constant to reminder to me that no matter where we are in the world, we should be defining ourselves by Chris and His love, not by things.

At night, because of all the stores, most street corners in Tokyo looked like Times Square because of all the neon lights! So, may these pictures be a reminder to you not to be consumed by all the stuff in the world, but to give your life's meaning to someone much bigger. (And, in addition, you might think the pictures look cool and that's ok because I do too!)

Tokyo: Tuesday

2009-08-07T22:12:00.006+09:00

Tuesday was our last day in Tokyo, but we still fit a lot in! We headed back to Nippori, the textile town, and picked up a few more fabrics. There were some polka dot fabrics I just couldn't stop thinking about! Then we headed to Shibuya. Shibuya has the busiest intersection in Tokyo, it's the one that's in any movie about Tokyo. When everyone crosses the street they cross like 5 or 6 different directions. It looks like one big Sparky Crawl!

After Shibuya we headed back to Shinjuku (our favorite spot) and got another tasty doughnut (or two), stopped at the English bookstore and had some more Mexican food before we had to head to our bus and go home. We had a great trip, and if any of you decide to come visit, we'll be happy to take you around Tokyo!

Shibuya

The Sparky Crawl!

Of course Shibuya has the biggest Starbucks I've ever seen! Surprisingly enough - I did not get coffee from it.

Shinjuku - Chris loved this clock

On our way home!

Tokyo: Monday

2009-08-07T09:15:00.016+09:00

On Monday we headed to Nippori, the Textile Town in Tokyo. I didn't know about Nippori until someone left me a link to it through our blog. Once I started to research it, I found out it is a mile-long stretch with all kinds of fabric stores along it. The place was better than I could have imagined - we only made it to 2 stores, but the fabric was so cheap so I ended up with lots of cute prints. We even went back again on Tuesday for another quick trip!

Look at all that fabric! This store had 5 floors - all of fabric!

The most wonderful Chris carried all of my bags while I looked around.

After Nippori we headed to the Imperial Palace. It is a huge palace in the middle of the city. The Imperial Family still lives there so the palace is only open on January 1st, which meant our view was limited. But it was still neat to see!

There's a real mote that circles the whole palace. I never saw a real mote before!

I have never seen so many umbrellas before I came here! It does rain almost everyday here so it makes sense. But even when it's hot and sunny people use umbrellas to block the sun. They even sell non-waterproof umbrellas for the sunny days!

You can see all the tall, modern buildings that surround the palace.

After the palace we headed to Roppongi. It is an area with lots of restaurants and nightlife. We ate at a delicious restaurant before heading back to our hotel.

When we were walking around Roppongi we found this Swedish restaurant. It was so random looking, just sitting on the middle of the block. Thought it was only fitting to have an Olson take a picture in front of it.

Roppongi at night.

Tokyo: Saturday & Sunday

2009-08-06T18:25:00.011+09:00

So for our first vacation we decided it was only fitting to head to Tokyo. We went for 4 days/3 nights and I'd say that was a great amount for the first time.

Tokyo was lots of fun, it was great to be in a city again and feel the urban-ness, eat delicious food and experience a new city. But boy is that town crazy! There are 30 million people that live in Tokyo. We only saw the "downtown" area, which was huge, but is only about 1/4 the size of the rest of Tokyo.

At first when we pulled into the city, there weren't very many people on the sidewalks. So I said to Chris, "Where are all these people I keep hearing about?" But don't worry we found them - they were all in the train stations! Seriously, the train stations are crazy. Tokyo has a subway and a regular train that run around their downtown. So each station usually has more than one line coming into it, plus in one area of town there is a monorail. Each station also seems to turn into a mall. The station that we stayed by had 3 malls in it - the shopping was totally overwhelming to me in Tokyo!

We had so much fun though, exploring and seeing lots of things!

SATURDAY: We took the bus to Tokyo, and checked in at our "hotel", probably more like a hostel. Tiny rooms. Then we headed to Shinjuku. Our hostel wasn't too far from here so we hung out here quite a bit. We found a bookstore with an English section, a tasty Mexican restaurant, Krispy Kreme and Starbucks here! No wonder it ended up being one of our favorite spots!

After we wandered around Shinjuku we headed out to see The Lion King, yes in Japanese. We were the only foreigners there, but we knew the story so it was ok. Chris had never seen the show so he just got confused between the African songs and the regular songs in Japanese. The show was still amazing!

But as we were watching it was kind of a little sad for us too. The Lion King has been in Tokyo for 10 years now, and watching the show made us realize it was probably because they believe in a lot of the ancestry stuff that the Lion King talks about. Just another reminder of the need of the people around us!

SUNDAY: Sunday morning we were so blessed to be able to go tochurch in English! The church is a church-plant from the Hillsong Australia church. The people at the church were very nice and very friendly. It was so encouraging to get to hear a LIVE sermon in English and to get to worship in a community in both English and Japanese.

After church we headed to Odaiba, a manmade island in Tokyo. It had lots of stuff to see, the Toyota Museum, a delicious Cheesburger place (with REAL beef), street performers, and a monorail to give us great views of the city!

We have lots of pictures to share, so I'm going to post them in a few posts.

One of our first stops. There was always a line out the door, but they gave us a free doughnut while we waited!

Muscat Shell Doughnuts and Mermaid Peach...we didn't try these!

One day we went to the island of Odaiba. It's a man-made island that is just over the Rainbow Bridge. You take the monorail to get there and to get around the island. We saw some great views of Tokyo from there!

Odaiba was really fun, they had street performers all around.

Odaiba also had the Toyota museum - guess this is a car of the future.

I thought the price looked so funny! 6 million dollars?!?

They also had The Statue of Liberty there...not sure why!

There was lots of interesting architecture in Tokyo.

Tokyo

2009-07-31T23:23:00.003+09:00

Ok, I worked hard to post LOTS of updates of what we have been doing lately. We are excited to officially be on Summer Break for the next 2 weeks!

Tomorrow we are heading to Tokyo for a couple of days of sightseeing and eating American food - Krispy Kreme, Outback, Mexican...we'll see what other tastes of home we can find in the Big City! I promise to post lots of pictures next week when we're back!

Youchien Summer Festival

2009-07-31T22:58:00.013+09:00

This past weekend was the Youchien (Kindergarten) Summer Festival. It was so much fun and so unbelievable to see all of the amazing-ness of the Youchien teachers. They put so much work into making it an amazing event!

The English teachers had a booth of face painting, which was so great, the kids loved it! Unfortunately no pictures of that since we were both working. But here are LOTS of pictures from the fun day!

More Summer Yukatas - this is Katherine and her teacher.

This is me and one of my 6th grade girls, Madoka. Yes, everyone really does put up the peace sign when you take a picture.

The teachers dressed in costumes and did dances to Super-hero theme songs on the stage.

This is Chris amused by all of the students dancing to the music. The students practiced in school.

The students dancing.

The back of the Yukatas - aren't the bows so cute?

The Youchien teachers dressed up, again, to go act out a play of The Peach Boy (a famous Japanse story).

Summer Festival #1

2009-07-31T22:47:00.006+09:00

The other week there was a Summer Festival just down the street from our house. We only went for a little bit, but it was LOTS of fun, and we ran into a lot of our students. There are lots of Japanese festivals coming up and we are looking forward to them!

I got a delicious crepe filled with chocolate and bananas

The kids all go to the festivals dressed in their Summer Yukatas. This is Kayla - she is so much fun and looked so cute in her Yukata.

Chris' Birthday

2009-07-31T22:18:00.007+09:00

On Chris' birthday I started the day off with making homemade doughnuts - they were tasty!

Chris got ER Seasons 1 and 2 from the package from America.

For dinner I made Mexican food - we had Mexican rice, taco salad and homemade salsa!

At night we had a little party at our friends Peter and Rebekah's house - we had the traditional Olson Ice-Cream cake. And afterwards Chris played Settler's of Catan.

Abbie's Birthday

2009-07-31T22:06:00.007+09:00

Chris made my birthday so special this year! We couldn't really celebrate on my birthday because I have class until 8pm on Tuesday nights, so the night before we went out to Koriyama and had some delicious Chinese food and Starbucks for dessert!

On my birthday I came home for my afternoon break and there were all kinds of voicemails on our phone. I didn't know, but Chris had sent an email out to a bunch of people from home reminding them it was my birthday and asking them to call me! It was such a fun surprise and so great to hear from so many people back home. It made not being at home, not as hard.

We also got some fun packages from home - can you guess which present came from America and which came from Japan?

Chris was trying to find me a pie pan for my birthday, and this mini-pie dish was the closest he could find.

On my birthday after my night class I went back to the office and was surprised by our entire team - even the little kids (even though it was past their bedtime!) This is everyone hiding.

My desk was decorated, too.

Bethany heard that we had Sugar Cookies at our wedding instead of cake, so he asked Chris to find the Sugar Cookies recipe and she made them for dessert!

July Birthday Dinner

2009-07-31T21:57:00.005+09:00

The family here took everyone on our team out for the day to celebrate the people who have birthday's in July, which included me and Chris. We had dinner at a delicious restaurant where they had bread for us (they don't do that in Japan), and we ate tasty hamburgers!

Before we went to dinner they brought us to a hotel that has an Onsen. An Onsen is a Japanese bath house. The water from the volcano the hotel sits on heats the water of the Onsen and you just sit and relax for as long as you want. Kind of like one big hot tub.

Everyone with their tasty bread!

The family also bought us birthday presents.

Chris got a Japanese calligraphy set so he can practice writing Japanese characters. This Kawaai Sensei showing him how it works.

I got a Japanese jewelry box and a Japanese fan, you know like the women who carry the fans with them. Sorry - no picture, but they are both beautiful!

Easter Program

2009-07-30T23:29:00.010+09:00

Our Easter Program was on July 5th. The whole town was invited and we had about 200 people show up, so the room we were in was packed. It was a great day - the gospel choir sang (you read write, we have a Japanese gospel choir), we did a drama of the Ragman, we sang songs (Redeemer, Nothing But the Blood, & God of Hope), and we shared why Easter is so important for Christians around the world.

After the program we had lots of fun with the kids painting Easter eggs, decorating cookies, coloring, and eating snacks. The day was really wonderful and God answered so many of our prayer in the preparation of the program, the amount of the people that showed up and having the exact number of everything we needed! Please continue to pray for the people that came that what they heard would speak to them, and that this would open up opportunities for conversations with the community around us!

The Gospel Choir

Chris played the guitar for a couple songs.

This is Janelle singing the song Redeemer - she rocked out to the song - it was beautiful!

Coloring Easter Eggs - there were 300 eggs, and zero left over!

The cookie table...it was crazy, but lots of fun!

This is one my second grade students - he's the cutest!

These two girls were my biggest customers. Katherine (brown hair) made cookies for everyone in her family. Her sister, Mariana (blonde hair), made a cookie, ate it, and would make another. It wasn't until 5 eaten cookies later, that I realized I needed to stop the madness! This basically sums up their two personalities - we love these girls!

busy.

2009-07-24T20:52:00.004+09:00

I am apologizing AGAIN for the lack of updates. Here's a glimpse at what I've been doing instead of blogging. Promise to update this weekend!

absence.

2009-07-16T22:15:00.008+09:00

I'm sorry for the absence these days. Ever since the Easter program we have been overwhelmed with finishing out the term, as Summer break starts after this week. We aren't officially off school until August 1-16, but the students are done after tomorrow...so we are only 1 day away from some much needed rest and some more time to blog.

Please don't give up on our blog yet - I promise to post pictures of the Easter program and some other happenings from the past few weeks!

For now, I will leave you with saying:
"Happy Birthday Chris!" (tomorrow, July 17th)
He only has one more year left in his late-twenties,
as I remind him of frequently these days!

This is my favorite picture of Chris from when he was a kid.

A Little Overwhelmed

2009-06-30T20:40:00.002+09:00

There might not be as much blogging this week because we have so much to get done, besides our normal teaching responsibilities. So with this post I am asking that you pray for us for some things that we are trying to get done:

Easter Program: Yes, you read right. We are having an Easter program this Sunday for the town we live in. We have been inviting friends, students and co-workers to come join us as we celebrate Easter and teach them about why we celebrate Easter. So, first if you can pray that people come. But there is also a lot we need to get done before the people can come...
- we (our team) are going to be hard-boiling 300 eggs that they can color
- we are going to be baking 200 sugar cookies that they can decorate
- we are going to be baking other snacks that they can eat
- we are giving a drama, so we have two more practices for that
- we are singing/playing music and that needs to finish coming together
- but most of all we want people to hear what we have to say...so pray that their hearts are open.

Stolen Identities: Today we learned that Chris' identity has been stolen. While he was in Japan this weekend, he also appears to have been at Six Flags Great America, The Cute Kid store, TMobile, etc... We have found out that there has been fraudulent activity on two credit cards, and possibly more. We are both actually laughing about this, because come on, how crazy that this is happening while we around the world?! But at the same time, how annoying that we have to deal with this and try to figure this out while we are around the world!

4th of July: A day to celebrate, right, so why is this a prayer request? Well, the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. My whole life I have gathered with many of you on both the 3rd and 4th of July. I was away at camp a couple of summers and missed it, but I was still able to celebrate with friends. I'm really nervous that this will be a hard weekend for me, being away from all of you and knowing the fun that I am missing. And nobody here knows what 4th of July is...there are no fireworks...and of course, no Taste of Chicago! We are going to do a little something with our team on Saturday, but with all we have to do for Sunday, it will be short. So please just pray that I don't get more homesick than necessary this weekend.

As a side note, to curb my missing the 4th of July, I bought a CD today off iTunes - it was $5.99 and had 50 patriotic songs - it's wonderful and I feel like I should be sitting in Grant Park when I listen to it.

Ok, I know this is long, so I will say thanks ahead of time. We have some busy days ahead!

Chris' Haiku

2009-06-26T22:01:00.007+09:00

Don't like Japan now.
Watermelon, twenty bucks?!
That is just silly.

This was stated this evening after he went to the grocery store and was disappointed by their fruit selection.

Golden Arches

2009-06-26T10:16:00.006+09:00

This week has been a hard week for me. I've been so exhausted and just haven't felt like I have any more to give. On my breaks each day I was taking naps, and I'd go to bed by 9pm each night. Emotionally this just made it a struggle for me to get through each day. We have been working so hard at teaching, plus we are getting ready for an Easter Program we are putting on for the town on July 5th. I know "Easter in July?", but the timing works out best to have it then.

Anyways, so the other night I was finishing up with class and then we had a 2 hour break or so before we had drama practice for the Easter program. So I said to Chris, let's just keep going, if I go home I'll be frustrated that I have to leave the house again. My kind and wonderful husband said, ok.

So we took the 6:12pm train to Koriyama and set out to have dinner at McDonald's and dessert at Starbucks, and catch the train back home an hour later.

Well, McDonald's has this sale right now "4 chicken nuggets for 100 yen ($1 dollar)", and I was so hungry by the time we got there I said I wanted to get a sandwich and some nuggets as a side. Chris said ok, so we placed our order for our sandwiches and I said and we'd like the "4 chicken nuggets for 100 yen". The lady responded and said "4 chicken nuggets, ok". Well, then she gave us 4 sauces - I thought, thats's so generous, you'd never get that many in America.

So we get our number and sit down and Chris says, "I think you might have ordered 4 orders of chicken nuggets." I was like really? Maybe, but I don't think so.

Well, our order came and sure enough - we had our sandwiches, fries, drinks and 4 orders of 5 chicken nuggets. So there we sat with all of our food and 20 chicken nuggets! I couldn't stop laughing, I was already so exhausted and I had just ordered so much food!

No wonder think of us as the "Fat Americans"!

Needless to say, we only ate 1 of the orders and brought the rest home for our friends' kids, and I still was able to get a Starbucks for dessert!

Japanese Humor: Matrix Style

2009-06-24T21:10:00.004+09:00

Here are two Japanese videos that we like to watch these days. I think it is so cool how they are made pay attention to the background, and quite funny to watch!

Enjoy!

When the cat's away...

2009-06-23T08:32:00.009+09:00

On Sunday afternoon our friends, Peter and Rebekah, called us to see if we could come over and watch 2 of their 3 kids. The kids were napping, so it was really an easy task set before us.

We packed up our lunch and laptop and headed over. Most of the time the kids were asleep so Chris and I just sat around watching a movie, but after the kids woke up from their nap, we had some fun entertaining ourselves on Photobooth.

Here's some of the fun we had!
Me and Katherine - silly faces

Asher woke up and joined us in the fun. He was a little groggy at first, but by the end he was all smiles!

Katherine liked this one because of her blue tongue.

Thanks for letting us hang out with your kids Peter and Rebekah!
We love them (and you)!

Nikko

2009-06-19T08:23:00.018+09:00

Last Saturday we got to spend the day with a new friend, Shizuka. Shizuka is friends with Kitty. They knew each other when they were both living down-state. As we were coming to Japan, Kitty found out that Shizuka only lived about 40 minutes from us! So Saturday we finally met her and spent the day with her.

She took us to the town of Nikko, to see the Toshogu Shrine. The Shrine was so huge; there was building after building of beautiful Japanese architecture that was built in the 1600's. It was very interesting and sad at the same time to see all that had been built to worship false Gods.

This is Ashley, me and Shizuka in the town of Nikko. They had a beautiful bridge and waterfall. Turns out that Ashley, who is on our team, also knew Shizuka - what a small world!

The theme of the day was STAIRS - this is the first set of 100 stairs that we climbed throughout the day. We started to count at one point, but I never heard the final number.

Japanese Monks

People write their prayers on these papers and tie them to the post. Reminded me of the Wailing Wall in Israel.

The Five-Storied Pagoda

The original hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil monkeys.

These arches are put in front of every shrine in Japan.

There was lots of gold. This arch had dragons carved into it, and every dragon was different.

This cat is a national monument. I think it means "good luck", but we're still not sure why it's so famous.

Chris and the scary man

There were HUGE trees there. We wanted to know if they were from the 1600's too.

We had a great time and were excited to see a new part of Japan and make a new friend!

When we go home...

2009-06-17T21:47:00.005+09:00

Well, first of all, we have no trip planned for home. But the other day I said to Chris, "When we go home I have a list of places I want to go eat at, so we should start saving for them now." I know, sad that I dream of all the food I miss back home, but the food here is definitely different.

So I thought I'd share my list with all of you, and tell you all to enjoy these tasty places for me this summer!

1. Lou Malnati's: We'll order the Malnati's Salad, a sausage pizza, and cookie pizza for dessert.
2. Oberweis: For some chocolate shakes!
3. The Pit: For a Cheeseburger special, with Dr. Pepper.
4. Jay's: This is Chris' choice, he wants a beef, or maybe a combo!
5. Francesca's: The best Italian food in Chicago!
6. Garcias: We may have to go more than once, I really miss Mexican food.
7. Always Thai/Spoon Thai: Either place will do, as long as I get some Pad Thai.
8. Starbucks: This goes without saying, but I'll have one-a-day, thank you!

I know, sad that I could think about so much food - but I've realized that I've turned into a foodie, no thanks to my dad and Chicago!

Happy Eating Friends!

Father's Day

2009-06-15T08:12:00.009+09:00

Saturday the Youchien (Preschool/Kindergarten) had their annual Father's Day program. They asked us 5 English school teachers to help in the program. Last week I found out that our part was to stand with a Japanese student for the welcome, the Japanese student would say the welcome greeting in English and we were to translate it into Japanese. It seemed kind of backwards to me, but thankfully they gave us our parts early so I could memorize mine.

My line was to say "Let's have fun together!" in Japanese, "Isshonni takusan tanoshimimasho!" It went fine...but we had to do more.

Not only did we have to speak in Japanese, but we had to do the Chicken Dance in front of 125 students and their dads. It was quite hilarious! And we were on a stage about 3 feet wide, so I was trying not to fall off the stage the whole time.

I told Chris he had to come, because this would be great humor for him to watch. I figured he'd bring a camera, but when I looked at him standing in the back, I saw him with a video camera. I just about died. He claims he'll figure out how to get the video onto the computer and on to the blog, so if he does you'll all be in luck...but I'm hoping he can't figure it out!

Here are some pictures from the day - it was a fun morning and there were LOTS of laughs!

The cute little 5-year olds. Each class wears a different colored hat.

This was some sort of Japanese dance to the song "Obladi, Obladah"

This game was so funny to watch. The parents put the student in the sled and ran them around a cone and back. Some of the parents would go so fast, that when they would run around the cone, the student would end up flying off the sled. Only a few students ended up in tears, most were just laughing the whole time.

The gym was decorated with pictures the students painted of their dads.

Jelly

2009-06-13T08:21:00.003+09:00

We have been trying some of the Japanese candy, and it's really good. One of the students' favorites seems to be the jelly. It's like jello in a plastic creamer container (you know, the creamer they have at restaurants). It doesn't refrigerated, so we sent some to some kids we know in the states, just because it's kind of funny to us.

Well, yesterday we got an email from Chris' sister who checked out a book from the library and they saw this page in the book - this is really what the candy looks like! I thought it was fun so I thought I'd share it with all of you.

Yakiniku Party

2009-06-09T21:50:00.005+09:00

On Sunday after church, Kawaai Sensei (she's like our team mom), invited us all to have Yakiniku for lunch. Chris and I have never had Yakiniku before...we loved it!

Yakiniku is meat and vegetables that you cook griddle - like Benihana, but YOU do the cooking! It was so tasty and we even got to bring leftovers home, so we'll get to have some more later this week!

One of the many plates of vegetables, before they were cooked. Chris and I had to cut up 6 cabbages in preparation for the meal.

As you can see, we'd grab the food from the griddle as soon as it was ready!

One of the Youchien teachers who comes to church, Jeni, Patty, and Chris

The Hula

2009-06-08T08:30:00.008+09:00

On Saturday I spent the day with my friend, Rebekah. We decided to head to the nearby big town, Koriyama. We spent the day walking around town, exploring, eating lunch at the Italian restaurant and of course, drinking Starbucks. The day was so fun and so refreshing!

As we were walking around by the train station, all of the sudden we were in the midst of a hula show. We stopped and watch these cute little girls do a hula dance. After they were finished, three middle-aged men got on the stage and started hula-ing. It was so funny and so odd at the same time, but they were really into it. Japanese people really like the hula, and I knew that, but I didn't know that men did the hula, too!

As we were exploring, we also ran into this bus - Monsters, Inc. from Tokyo Disneyland. I think the characters were inside the bus, but we didn't go in it. (Of course I had to take some pictures for all you Disney lovers back home!)

My First Quilt

2009-06-05T13:21:00.007+09:00

Right before we left for Japan, I decided to take a quilting class. I was able to get everything finished before I left, so my quilt could be sent off to the long-arm quilter to be "quilted". Collette from Quiltology said she would ship it to me when it was finished - and this week it arrived!

I love it! I put it in our living room and I can't stop looking at it. The fabrics are so beautiful and the stitching from the quilting is so beautiful, too. I think I'm addicted to quilting and fabrics now, I just can't stop looking at them online to see which ones I'll get for my next quilt! I want to make quilts for everyone I know. (Don't worry Mrs. Mecher - I'll be knitting still, too!)

The new addition to our living room.

The front

The back

Look at the beautiful stitching!

Oddball

2009-06-04T13:14:00.003+09:00

First of all, I apologize for not posting sooner. Things have been a little busy and I'm trying to finish a quilt for some friends who are having an auction this summer, with the spare time I do have. (more on the auction later)

So, maybe it's just that I grew up in a diverse area, or the fact that I had been living in such a diverse area before we moved to Japan, but sometimes I forget that here in Japan I stick out like a sore thumb. I kind of just feel like I fit in here - I say hi to people as I pass them by and bow. I, for the most part, have grocery shopping figured out and can find things at the store. I am fully confident in buying a train ticket and riding the train. And, the other day I even conquered the feat of learning how to pay my bills here (you pay them in person at the grocery store). So really, I feel like I can do most normal everyday activities and not feel like I stick out too much.

But then reality sinks in...

Everyday I walk past the Youchien (Preschool/Elementary school) and for about 50 yards away the 3 year olds will yell to me "Eigo no Sensei, Eigo no Sensei" (English teacher, English teacher), usually followed by "Hello" or "Bye-Bye". They are so cute so I, in passing, say Hello or Bye-Bye in return, and then greet the teachers in Japanese.

But the other day it dawned on me, if a 3 year old can recognize that I'm an oddball from 50-yards away, I must really stick out here! Japanese isn't diverse at all - Chris and I, and our fellow teachers, are the only foreigners living in this rural town, and probably the surrounding towns too. But sometimes I just forget how much I really stick out.

So then in thinking about that, it dawned on me even more, that being here, and realizing that everyone is watching me, my actions are not only a reflection on myself, but on my teammates, on the Japanese family that has invited us to join them here, and most importantly on the example of Jesus that I am trying to live out to and for the Japanese people I encounter here.

It's ok that I'm an oddball here, people are wonderful and continuously show me grace when I don't understand something about the culture here, but I must remember everyday, that every action I take is not just about me, but is about a much bigger picture here!

Sunday

2009-05-28T21:15:00.002+09:00

Well, I know it's almost the end of the week, but it's been a busy week and I wanted to tell you all about Sunday.

This past Sunday we were invited to go to a Japanese church about an hour away. There are two American missionaries that teach in the town, and they come to our bible study on Sunday nights. They go to this church and the people at the church offered to come and pick us up, once a month on Sundays.

So this past Sunday we went. They have a translator who sits in a booth and translates the entire service for us, while we wear ear pieces to hear the translation. Kind of like the people at the UN wear - very cool. (Gladdy should look into getting these - he'd love them!)

Anyways, even though we had to go an hour away, the people at the church were so nice and welcoming. Our Japanese is very minimal, but we can communicate a little, and people like to try out their English on us. So we already made a few friends, one who has already emailed us and wants to get together sometime. After church they host a lunch each week, so we had Japanese meatloaf, which is way different than American meatloaf, but pretty ok tasting.

The most encouraging part was seeing so many Japanese Christians together in one place. Japan is only 2% Christians, so it is a very lost country. It is not a part of their culture, so people grow up and many haven't even heard of Jesus. I had been wrestling with all of this lately - how can people never hear? It's just so foreign to me. So, seeing over 100 Japanese Christians gathered together, in rural Japan, was so encouraging!

We're going to go back in a few weeks, so I'll try to take pictures next time.

As a side note, most Sundays we go to a Japanese church in our town. We love it there, the people are very kind and wonderful to us - it's just nice to get a sermon in English occasionally, that's not a podcast.

Undokai

2009-05-27T13:15:00.012+09:00

On Saturday, one of the Elementary Schools I teach at was having their annual Undokai. Undoai is kind of like field day, but all of the parents and grandparents come and watch, and it's an all day event.

I teach at least once a week at the school, and a bunch of the students are in my classes at the English school (after-school classes), so I got to see a lot of my students outside of class, which was a lot of fun!

The school kind of looks like a castle to me.

There are 2 teams - red and white. Look at those cute hats!

One of my second graders waving hello. Her English name is Carolyn.

Tug of War

One of the 4th grad teachers on the Japanese drum.

A fun time was had by all! And it was so encouraging to interact with students and some Japanese friends outside of school!

Sushi

2009-05-22T21:29:00.003+09:00

The family was having lunch today and asked us to eat with them. On today's menu: Raw Seafood Sushi.

I was so nervous about it - not necessarily the taste, but I have a real issue with textures, and slimy isn't one I do too well with. But I have to say that I had about 7 different pieces and they weren't bad - they weren't my favorite, but they weren't bad. The other teachers said I did a good job, especially for my first time. I couldn't finish everything so I brought the leftovers home and Chris ate them for an after-school snack.

My teacher said to me this afternoon, "Abbie Sensei, lunch was maybe interesting for you today."

I said, "Yes, it was different, but it was pretty good."

This isn't my lunch, but really my lunch looked pretty much the same, only it also had some eel, which isn't in this picture.

Here's to trying new things, and thanking God for how different and unique He has made all of us!

Youchien

2009-05-21T20:45:00.004+09:00

The other day the 4 year olds at the Youchien (the kindergarten), asked the 5 teachers that teach at the English school (me, Bethany, Lis, Jeni, and Ashley) to come over for a Welcome Program.

The kids were SO cute! I really wish I had pictures of them, but we were busy introducing ourselves in Japanese. After that we taught them a song, the "Seven Steps" song. Basically you teach them to count from 1-7. They had lots of fun and so did I!

At the end of the program, 5 little kids ran out of the room and they came back in and presented us each with a Gerbra Daisy plant. They said "Domo Arigato Gozaimas" (thank you very much) and bowed and presented the plants to us - it was so adorable.

This is my plant - how perfect that it's pink, my favorite.

So pretty

The 4 year olds drew little pictures and put them in the plant.

Japanese Tea Ceremony

2009-05-20T21:41:00.009+09:00

On Sunday we got the chance to go to a Japanese Tea Ceremony. It took place in our town's cultural center, which is actually a 100 year old barn. It was very interesting to watch. They have formalities for the way they get the tea ready, the way they actually make it, the way it is served and even the way it is cleaned up. It was so fun to get to see a new piece of Japanese culture!

The 100 year old barn. The roof is actually made out of straw and mud and they have to put a new roof on each year.

Making the tea. The women wear such beautiful kimonos.

Chris and Peter eating the treat - ground rice with bean paste inside. A Japanese favorite - they have bean paste in lots of things here.

Chris getting tea served to him. To drink the tea you bow to the person who made it, then put the cup in your left hand, turn it twice, and then you can drink it.

Our hosts

After the tea ceremony they showed us all of the old farm tools - this is a raincoat and rainhat.

The back of the raincoat - look at all that hay!

Mac and Cheese

2009-05-18T21:48:00.002+09:00

I had such a fun morning at the elementary school today! The 4th grade teacher asked us to help the kids cook American Macaroni and Cheese. So, Jeni and I, brought our aprons to school and had a great time!

First of all, when the students cook, they each have their own apron they wear, then they wear a bandana on their head, and finally a facemask. They look so cute!

They were all really excited about cooking the macaroni and cheese - they got to pick between Spiderman or Spongebob shapes. And they laughed at the shapes of the pasta. Each student in the group had their own part: put the pasta in the water, put the milk in, the butter, the cheese and the "stir-er". They had lots of fun cooking - and even more fun eating Macaroni and Cheese. Only 1 student out of 23 had ever had it before.

I think they all liked it, and they think it's funny that American kids eat it for dinner so much.

Go Cubs Go!

2009-05-17T20:22:00.003+09:00

Baseball is a big thing here in Japan. Japan has their own baseball league, and the games are usually on at night. Sometimes we watch them, just because we like baseball. Our favorite team is the Tokyo Giants, but I think that's because we see their games more than any other teams.

But they also show American baseball on TV. The American games are aired in the mornings, so we can only watch them on the weekends. Mostly we see the Mariners, Yankees, Red Sox and Rays, since there are Japanese players on each of those teams. But we heard that this morning they would be airing Saturday's Cubs game. Sure enough - at 8:10am the game came on!

It was so much fun to watch and see Chicago - we definitely miss our home town and for certain we miss Cubs games. If Kosuke Fukudome keeps playing well, hopefully we'll keep getting Cubs games here!

Chris put on his Cubs shirt and hat for the event. He wanted me to wear the shirt and hat you see sitting next to him, but everyone who knows me knows I don't wear hats.

Laundry

2009-05-14T09:36:00.003+09:00

As you know, our washer and dryer were a bit tricky to figure out, since they have the Japanese buttons and all. Well most people here actually hang their clothes out to dry (when the weather is good, of course). So I tried it, and...I love it! Our clothes dry faster outside than in our dryer and they smell so wonderful!

You can see our plants in the picture, too. We don't have any green space at our apartment, but we are trying our hand at some potted plants - tomatoes, basil and some pretty flowers. I'll post more later on that to let you know if we have any success with this!

Will Walk for Art

2009-05-10T15:24:00.008+09:00

On Saturday we went to Koriyama to see an art exhibit by a Japanese artist, Seiji Fujishiro. When we got to Koriyama, the next bus to the museum wasn't coming for an hour, so we decided to walk. We walked 45 minutes to get to the museum. And yesterday was the first really warm day, so I decided it was a great day to break in my flip flops for the Summer! Not so much! We hiked up hill and I ended up with blisters in between my toes...but...

It was so worth it! This art exhibit wasn't like anything I've ever seen before - it was so beautiful!

The artist creates his pieces by first drawing his picture on matte board. Then he cuts out each shape that will be a different color and layers different colored paper behind the board. In the end they are displayed with light shining on each image from behind, so the colors are so bright. It's really hard to explain, but it was so cool!

The other interesting thing is that the artist is a Christian, which is kind of surprising since he's Japanese. Most Japanese people don't really know much about God, and a lot of them have never even heard of Him. So the neat thing is that part of the exhibit was all artwork on Bible stories - the Garden of Eden, Noah's Ark, Crossing the River Jordan, The Ten Commandments, Christ's Birth and Death, etc.

So, I asked Jeni, one of our teammates, what people would think of the artwork, since some of them have never heard of God. She said that some would just think it's nice artwork, but that some of the pieces had descriptions with them, that explained the story. It made me so excited about the artist - his exhibit travels all over Japan, and even the world, but what a great way to tell the Japanese people Bible Stories!

This was a piece that he finished just a month ago. It's of the Taki-Zakura, the 1,000 year old Cherry Blossom tree that we went to see.

A close up of the new piece

Me and Jeni outside the Koriyama Art Museum

HipShot

2009-05-10T09:22:00.004+09:00

On Wednesday, our friend Lis had a concert in Koriyama (the big city about 30 minutes from us). She plays piano and her friend, Iichi, plays guitar. They were great!

They played songs both in English and Japanese and some of the songs were even worship songs. It was really neat to see all the Japanese people listening to them, and after one of the concerts some of Lis' Japanese friends were even asking her what the songs meant. What a great opportunity for her to be able to share with them!

It's really neat to me to see the opportunities God opens up for us here in Japan. While Chris and I still need to learn more of the language, God is still presenting people for us to get to know, and hopefully build relationships with. But how neat that God would present an opportunity to share His love to people at a club!

Lis and Iichi

Some Funnies

2009-05-07T20:33:00.005+09:00

This week was Golden Week (3 Japanese Holidays right in a row), so we were off school Monday - Wednesday, which was really nice! But today was our first day back to school, and there was never a dull moment! So I thought I'd share some of my funniest moments so far:

LAWN:
At the English school they mowed the lawn today. And when I say mowed, I mean the man took a weed wacker to mow it - and yes, it's a HUGE lawn, so he was out there for 2.5 hours today completing the task. Maybe they don't use lawn mowers here - we're just not sure.

CHAIRS:
Last week I was teaching my 6th grade girls class. They are fun and quite energetic bunch. The classroom has a very high stage I need to stand on to write at the chalkboard, so I frequently move from the stage to the main level and back, throughout the class. There is a teeny, old, wooden chair that you step up to go onto the stage.

Well, yes, as I went to step on the chair to go up onto the stage, the chair cracked. The bottom of it broke (where you'd sit or stand) and the students just died laughing at me.

CHAIRS, YET AGAIN:
Today the infamous chair was fixed, so no problem, I thought. I was so careful to step everytime I wanted to get on the stage, but apparently one time I didn't pay attention. The chair slipped out from me before I could step on it and I fell to the ground, smacking my back and head on the stage. Again, my students laughed, but also asked if I was ok. What could I do but laugh?

SECURITY:
The other week I was shopping at Funehiki Park, kind of like a two-story Walmart, with a grocery store. As I was leaving the store, the security alarm went off. Had I been in America I would have kept walking. But being the only American in the store, I thought that would be a bit obvious. So I stopped and proceeded to wait as one, and then two, and then finally three workers searched all 3 of my bags. They tried to talk to me for about 15 minutes, but the little Japanese I do know, is really only helpful in the classroom. So finally after waiting it out they let me go, but watched as the security alarm went off, again. This time I just kept walking.

Sewing Machine

2009-05-06T21:34:00.005+09:00

Some of you know that I started to get into quilting just before I left the States. My one dream was to get a sewing machine in Japan, so I could make quilts for people. I also hope that someday I'll be able to use it as a tool for ministry, but for now I need some more practice.

So, the other day, Chris went over to the big store near us, and got my sewing machine for me! Of course, everything's in Japanese: the owners manual, all of the words on the machine, etc. But there was an intro DVD that came with the sewing machine - it's also in Japanese, but it gives me a visual step-by-step guide to how to get things started. So tomorrow will be the big day to get it set up and see how it goes. (I'll let you know!)

My new sewing machine - with top loading bobbin, what a bonus

More Japanese to figure out...

It even came with a free cover - another bonus!

Sendai

2009-05-05T20:12:00.006+09:00

On Sunday, we went to Sendai. Sendai is usually a two hour bus ride from us, but on Sunday it took four hours to get there. The bus driver warned us of that before we left, saying there was some reason, but of course we couldn't understand the reason. So we just settled in and enjoyed the ride.

We went with a couple of our friends - Rebekah, Patty and Ashley. It was so great to have them along because they knew how to buy the bus tickets and where to go in Sendai.

Our main priority was the apple store - Both we and Rebekah had to get our laptops looked at, but while we were there, we made sure to enjoy some other things: UNIQLO (kind of like H&M), a bookstore that actually had an English section, and some mexican food. I wouldn't exactly say it was tasty, but it left us remembering and wanting Garcias!

Overall the day was lots of fun and we were quite successful at the apple store!

Rice fields on the way to Sendai. The farmers all flood the rice fields before they plant them - we're not sure why.

Sendai - probably the closest "BIG" city to us

This one's for Rachel - we think Wicked and Lion King are playing in Tokyo!

Funehiki

2009-05-04T22:12:00.011+09:00

The other day we went for a walk up the hill that is behind our house. After only a 10 minute walk we could see our whole town and we found some interesting Japanese Culture near the picnic area. Everything is so green here now that Spring has come!

We found this along the way, we're not sure what it is exactly.

This is our town - Funehiki

Our house is in this picture - the brown building, with the black roof. (Good luck figuring that out!)

This is what we found at the top of the hill

Nasu Highland Park

2009-05-04T21:08:00.013+09:00

Last Wednesday was a national holiday here in Japan, so everyone had off school for the day! Our host family here took us to Nasu Highland Park, an amusement park. It was a fun day and it was nice to spend more time with our teammates! Since we all teach at different schools we usually just get to see them for Bible Study and team meetings.
These animals were close to the entrance - you paid 200 yen and it SLOWLY moved around for about two minutes. This is Adam having fun on the panda.

We were just posing - not actually riding.

This ride was called "Top Gun" and it flung you upside-down in circles so many times. I opted out of this ride, but this is Chris, Janelle, Adam, Ashley, Lanon, Lis and the Japanese friend (which they made on the ride), getting ready for the excitement!

This is Kono Sensei. He spent the day with us, and held everyone's bags while they went on Top Gun. What a good sport!

They don't have cotton candy for a snack...but they have some tasty looking fish!

This is Kawaai Sensei - she's kind of like our team mom and supervisor all in one. She didn't love the roller coasters, but she came on a few rides with us. We love her!

This picture was for Wesley - sorry it's blurry - but these cars were Fords...in Japan! So funny!

The whole group, with Woopy the bird.

The Super Strip Mall

2009-05-01T23:20:00.010+09:00

The town we live in is quite rural, but as Chris says, "We have a super strip mall!" Everyone here laughs when Chris calls it the "strip mall" because really it's just a few small stores, but they definitely hold some good stuff!

The Super Strip Mall

All the stores at The Super Strip: Lion Dor - grocery store with granola and popcorn! Daiso - a great dollar store and the only store in Japan to have cute and decently priced frames! KFC - enough said.

Yes...we ate lunch at KFC...how could we resist? It was unfortunately $16 for one value meal - we won't be going back again too soon.

At the Bookstore: Harry Potter...

...and Enchanted

We finished our day with a game at the arcade - a Japanese drum game, kind of like Dance Dance Revolution, but with drums.

Taki-Zakura

2009-04-30T20:37:00.013+09:00

During the week that the Sakura were in bloom, we got up one morning at 5am to go see a Sakura tree, "Taki-Zakura", that is over 1,000 years old! It was so beautiful, and well worth the early morning! And besides, how often can you see something so old?

You can see the base of the tree here - it is huge

You can see the posts that they have put up, to help the tree from falling down!

People come from all over to look at the tree while it's in bloom - even at 6am!

Ashley Sensei, Kawaai Sensei & Abbie Sensei

Sakura

2009-04-27T07:00:00.007+09:00

In Japan, the Sakura (Cherry Blossom Trees) are a big anticipation. The trees only bloom for 1-2 weeks so everyone in Japan follows the blooming trees throughout the country - the blooming starts in the South and works its way North. We live in the more North part of Japan, so they don't bloom here until later, which means we got to see them!

We live right next to a river that is lined with the Sakura trees, so everyday we got to see the beautiful trees!

The river by our house

What they look like up close...

The city hangs lanterns from the trees

The lanterns at night

We're Back!

2009-04-25T20:03:00.006+09:00

Woo-Hoo!
We have internet - we are so excited! Over the next few days I will work to post all of the pictures and updates we want to show all of you.
________________________________________
We have been teaching for 3 weeks now and have pretty much settled into our schedules. Here's what we do everyday:

CHRIS
Chris teaches at a Jr. High school (7, 8 & 9 grade) about a 25 minute train ride from our house. He works with two Japanese teachers - Tami and Yuko - and assists them with their English classes. After school he has been joining some of the "club" activities - baseball, kendo and volleyball. He'll probably help the baseball team out on a regular basis starting next week.

Chris also teaches one evening class at the English School for 7th grade boys.

Chris' School

ABBIE
In the mornings I teach at some nearby Elementary Schools. There are 5 of us that go each morning and teach in 2-4 classrooms, depending on the size of the school.

In the afternoons, I teach at the English School. I have 2-3 afternoon/evening classes a day, and my classes range from 1st - 7th grade (students have a class twice a week).

The English School

We are having a good time getting to know the students and teachers that we work with. Our teammates here have been so helpful showing us different ways to teach the classes and helping us learn the curriculum. We are so thankful for all of them and feel so blessed by all of their help!

Delay

2009-04-16T17:36:00.001+09:00

Hey everyone - sorry for the delay in posts. We still don't have internet at our house, so we don't get online too often. All is well here in Japan - we will post as soon as we can! (Lots of pictures to come!)

The Washing Machine

2009-04-03T15:12:00.004+09:00

Oh, the adventures of living in Japan. Most things in our apartment have been pretty easy to figure out, but today my goal was to conquer the washing machine. How hard could it be - it's a washing machine. Well, that's what you say, until you take a closer look at this:

I'm happy to say I succeeded and have completed 2 loads of laundry. Next up is the dryer...I thought I'd wait to try that one until later...for now this will work for drying:

This is really our "shower room". You can see the tub at the bottom of the picture and the shower head up top. You actually stand outside of the tub to use the shower.

Our Home

2009-04-03T14:57:00.007+09:00

Well, I'm sorry for the delay in posting pictures of our new home. We don't have internet in our apartment yet, so we have been coming to another teacher's house to use hers (thanks Jeni!).

We really love our apartment - it is small and cozy. We were so blessed that the couple that was in the apartment last left so many things for us to use! So it already seems quite settled.

Our new home...ours is the first floor

Our kitchen

Living Room - directly off the kitchen

Our bedroom - the bed is just a little larger than a twin size bed - NO JOKE!

We've Arrived!

2009-04-01T11:25:00.004+09:00

We've finally arrived in Japan! We got here last night (Tuesday) - it's currently Wednesday morning here now, Tuesday night for everyone back home. The time change is a bit crazy to figure out - we're 14 hours ahead of Chicago time.

We had fun last night exploring our new apartment - it is very cute and quite cozy. We were so blessed by the couple that lived here before us - they left our apartment filled with lots of things, and we are so thankful that we won't have to buy a lot right away! And we've been able to spend the day unpacking and getting things figured out.

We'll write more later and post pictures as soon as we can.

On Our Way!

2009-03-30T19:12:00.003+09:00

We are officially on our way to Japan! We are at the airport, have made it through security, and will be in the air in one hour!

We are so thankful: that we didn't have to pay anything for our overweight baggage, that we made it through security with no problems, and that there is a Starbucks in our terminal (sometimes it's the little things!)

Thank you all for your love, support and prayers. We'll talk to you from the other side of the world the next time we check in!

Waiting...

2009-03-30T05:21:00.006+09:00

Well, we were supposed to leave for Japan this morning, however our flight was cancelled. Our plane got hit by lightning on the way into Columbus, and the lightning put a hole in the plane. NO JOKE! So, we couldn't get out today. We have another flight scheduled for tomorrow morning, so please pray that all will go well tomorrow.

The good news: the airline put us up in a hotel and gave us food vouchers. Nice to have a place to rest our heads and relax today (we only got about 3 hours of sleep last night).

The bad news: we will have one less day to get adjusted to new time and life in Japan before school starts next Monday. The airline we fly tomorrow charges more for overweight luggage than the airline we were supposed to fly today, so we are praying we won't have to pay the more expensive fee.

We know God is in control and has a reason for all of this, so we are just waiting and trusting in Him today.

On our way to Japan...or so we thought...

(If I get ambitious today, maybe I'll post pictures from my family's visit this weekend.)

Visitors in Ohio

2009-03-24T07:57:00.006+09:00

We are one week through orientation before going to Japan, and this past weekend we had some visitors! Mom and Dad as well as Andy and Laura all converged in Ohio to visit us at our orientation. Who knew how much fun could be had in one day! We saw a refurbished carousel, an 150 year old prison, and a great Bob Evans. More importantly, we had a fun time enjoying family before having to say goodbye.

Saying Goodbye

2009-03-20T08:35:00.002+09:00

Over the past month, we have slowly been saying goodbye to all of our friends and family, as we get ready to leave. Sunday night there was a goodbye party for us at church. We were so blessed by all of our friends and family who are supporting us, praying for us, and cheering us on as we move to Japan.

It has been such a bittersweet past few weeks, preparing to go. It's so hard to say goodbye to all of the people who have invested in us, been such a blessing to us, and really formed who we have become. At the same time, we know God is preparing us and asking us to move forward into an exciting time. Even though we don't know what Japan will really be like, or what God has in store for us, it's both exciting and scary to sit and wait for him to reveal His plans to us.

We are in Ohio now for two weeks of training and then we'll be off to Japan.

Thank you to all of you who took us out for dinners, wrote us notes, helped us pack and move, and have really just loved us. We will miss all of you so much - you are each a wonderful part of our lives!

I'm having trouble posting pictures so hopefully I'll be able to post some soon.

Blessings in Baked Goods

2009-02-12T09:35:00.009+09:00

THANK YOU!
Last night our wonderful church family hosted a bake auction to help us as we prepare to move overseas. It was a really fun night, and we are so thankful and blessed by our church family.

Here are some of the amazing things that were baked.

"The Beauty of Japan"

"Taste of Japan" - this cake was incredible! And it was all edible!

Bread pudding competition - both were quite delicious!

Sky made this all by himself!

Back at It

2009-01-26T04:09:00.004+09:00

Since we'll be moving soon, we decided that starting our blog back up would be a good way to communicate with everyone back home. So, soon enough, we'll back at the blogging again!